- Leitner-Poma places the only bid to modernize the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram for $29 million, 60 percent more than the state’s $18 million estimate.
- A gondola is considered to connect Dawson City to a neighboring town across the Yukon River.
- This week’s viral video shows a skier inadvertently dragging a net up a chairlift in Poland.
- Val Saint-Côme retires the T-Bar that had a fatal accident last winter.
- Hatley Pointe, North Carolina won’t open this winter.
- Neither will Mt. Timothy, BC.
- Mt. Itasca, Minnesota says it needs to raise $100,000 to continue operating.
- Titus Mountain pays tribute to ski patroller Rick Finch, who is believed to have died when his backpack became entangled with a chair.
- Les Otten, designer of Sunday River and The Canyons, talks about his dream for 23 lifts at The Balsams, building America’s longest chairlift, the Killington-Pico interconnect and more.
- The Busch Gardens gondola in Tampa is set to reopen this weekend after four years closed.
- New York State seeks to force a sale of Toggenburg Mountain to an operator who will reopen it.
- Sugarbush addresses recent lift downtime.
- Whitefish’s President explains recent challenges with the Snow Ghost Express both in writing and video form.
- A guest allegedly spent the night stuck on the Heavenly gondola last night.
Leitner-Poma
Chair Falls From Lift at Bittersweet, Michigan
An unoccupied chair fell from Bittersweet’s new Snow Flyer lift today according to a post on Reddit. It appears one of the lift’s communication lines became entangled with several chairs, causing one of them to detach from the haul rope. No injuries were reported and the lift was evacuated by ski patrol and closed. Weather at the time was unsettled with high winds and snow.
Snow Flyer is just over one year old. The Leitner-Poma detachable quad rises 319 vertical feet with 40 chairs.
Ski Santa Fe to Build High Speed Quad
A detachable chairlift will join Ski Santa Fe, New Mexico’s lift fleet for the first time next year. The Forest Service recently completed analysis of the new lift, which will replace the 1988 Santa Fe Super Chief fixed grip quad. “The project is needed to upgrade declining infrastructure, ensuring efficient operations and improved user satisfaction,” the Forest Service wrote in an October 13th decision. Ride time will improve from 10 minutes to just over four minutes.
The new lift will be called Santa Fe Express and be built by Leitner-Poma, the manufacturer for most of Ski Santa Fe’s existing chairlifts. The high speed quad will run just over 4,000 linear feet and serve 865 vertical feet of beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain.
Construction will begin in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-25 ski season.
Leitner-Poma Breaks Ground on Utah Factory
Elected officials joined Leitner-Poma of America yesterday in Tooele, Utah to turn the first dirt for what will become the company’s largest North American facility. The 130,000 square foot campus will complement an existing 100,000 square foot factory in Grand Junction, Colorado opened in 2007. Leitner-Poma subsidiary Skytrac Lifts will move from leased space near the Salt Lake City airport to Tooele. The state-of-the-art facility will allow the firms, which are owned by HTI Group of Italy, to increase production and expand headcount up to 120 employees, with further growth possible in additional phases of the project. In addition to Skytrac and Leitner-Poma production, the building will also house a parts warehouse and offices for HTI snowmaking brand DemacLenko and HTI grooming brand Prinoth. All told HTI plans to invest $27 million in Tooele.
When the new facility opens in May 2024, LPOA and Skytrac will manufacture 85 to 90 percent of lift equipment for the North American market in the United States. “Today, we are thrilled to mark a new era of our company here in Tooele,” said Daren Cole, president of LPOA. “We are really invested in the State of Utah and the resort industry. We are focused on Made in America here in Utah and the U.S.” He noted Leitner-Poma’s primary competitor imports much of its equipment from Europe. Leitner-Poma is Italian-owned but offers a largely North American-designed and manufactured product line.
The Tooele facility will support not only the ski industry but also future projects for amusement parks and urban transit. “We want to welcome Leitner-Poma to the fastest growing county in the fastest growing state in the nation,” said Utah Lieutenant Governor Diedre Henderson. “Here in the heart of Utah’s industrial landscape our partnership with Leitner-Poma will pave the way for groundbreaking new developments in the transportation industry with its cutting edge new manufacturing facility.”
Leitner-Poma plans to install solar panels and a 250 kilowatt wind turbine from fellow HTI brand Leitwind to provide 100 percent of the factory’s energy needs.
Sunshine Village to Build Canada’s First Bubble Six Chairlift
Leitner-Poma will install its first ever bubble chairlift in Canada at Banff Sunshine. The six place chairlift with heated seats will replace the aging Angel Express, built in 1988. The move follows construction of Sunshine’s first bubble lift, the Tee Pee Town LX quad in 2015. When the project is complete within the next two years, all lifts at Sunshine will be under 30 years old.
Parks Canada approved the project in March and Sunshine crews spent this summer widening the lift line and pouring select foundations for the new lift. No opening date has been set but Sunshine intends to have the Angel Express 6 operational for either the 2024-25 or 2025-26 ski season.
Copper Mountain to Build Fourth Six Pack
This season will be the last for Copper Mountain’s aging Timberline Express. Copper announced yesterday work has already begun to replace the 1994 build detachable quad with a Leitner-Poma six seater for the 2024-25 season. The new machine will become the fourth Leitner-Poma six place at Copper, following Super Bee, American Eagle and American Flyer.
Timberline Express 2.0 will span 4,825 linear feet and carry skiers 1,129 vertical feet on Union Peak. Capacity will increase to 3,000 guests per hour, up from the current high speed quad’s 2,400 per hour. “The Timberline Express chairlift services some of the most popular intermediate terrain,” said Dustin Lyman, President and General Manager of Copper Mountain. “With the introduction of a 6-pack high-speed lift, we are boosting uphill capacity significantly, effectively reducing wait times and granting skiers and riders quicker access to one of our most treasured mountain areas,” he continued. The project has already been approved by the United States Forest Service.
Copper Mountain also received approval to replace the Lumberjack triple with a detachable quad, though no timeline for that upgrade was set.
News Roundup: Birds of Prey
- A pair of osprey nest atop a tower on Beaver Creek’s Riverfront Express, preventing maintenance work for now.
- New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority plans to spend $80 million on lifts and snowmaking each of the next four years.
- The first 29 cabins will debut on Park City’s Red Pine Gondola June 30th with 26 more to follow next winter.
- SilverStar adds 21 new cabins to the Schumann Summit Express gondola.
- The first urban gondola in Canada could go out to bid in 2025.
- Leitner-Poma secures a tax credit for its upcoming facility in Utah.
- White Pass retires the Pigtail II double, the second oldest chairlift in the country dating back to 1958.
- The asking price for closed Toggenburg Mountain drops to $1.995 million.
- Leitner and Poma partner with a solar energy company to offer photovoltaic panels on detachable lift terminals.
- Lake Louise formally announces the Upper Juniper Express, to be built by Doppelmayr over the next two summers.
- A worker dies in a fall from an Italian aerial tramway while performing maintenance work.
- Chair 2 at Snow Valley is being shortened to become a beginner lift.
- Mt. Holly’s second detachable quad will be called Lightning Express.
- Snowmass seeks Forest Service approval to replace Coney Glade and Cirque.
- Cannon Mountain looks to announce a new tram on July 7th, the 85th anniversary of the original tram.
Leitner-Poma and Skytrac to Build 130,000 Square Foot Facility in Utah
A new manufacturing and support base for HTI Group’s American lift brands is coming to Tooele, Utah. Located about 30 minutes from Salt Lake City, Tooele will become the new home for Skytrac and also serve as a satellite facility to Leitner-Poma’s headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado. “This new Utah-based facility will allow us to continue to grow our American-made capabilities while expanding our existing headcount in Utah by up to 60 percent,” said Daren Cole, President of Leitner-Poma of America. “We’re proud to produce all Skytrac parts and nearly all LPOA parts in America,” he continued. Tooele will become the largest HTI facility in the United States at 130,000 square feet and represents an investment of $27 million.
In addition to state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, the 25 acre site will also include a 162 foot tall LEITWIND turbine capable of generating 100 percent of the plant’s electricity needs. Turbines from HTI subsidiary Leitwind utilize a DirectDrive generator similar to those used in the company’s detachable lifts.
The Tooele site is expected to increase Leitner-Poma’s Utah headcount to 120 employees. “We welcome Leitner-Poma of America’s expansion to Tooele,” said Utah Governor Spencer Cox. “Its new manufacturing facility will complement Utah’s thriving ski industry and give the company access to the diverse and talented workforce that exists in our great state.”
Skytrac’s move to a new plant comes on the heels of the company’s biggest sales year ever with 10 complete lifts in 2022. “New ropeway systems are rising at a record-setting pace worldwide,” noted Cole. “The output from this new campus, as well as our work to further onshore our supply chain, positions LPOA and Skytrac to better meet the growing demand throughout the country.”
The Tooele factory is expected to open in 2024.
News Roundup: Sold Out
- Mexico City and Leitner inaugurate a new urban gondola line with 283 cabins and 7 stations.
- Leitner-Poma looks to hire a Sales Manager specifically for urban ropeways in North America.
- Leitner, Poma and Bartholet parent company HTI reports a record €1.3 billion in revenue for fiscal 2022.
- A skier dies after falling through a gondola cabin window in France.
- With its gondola back in operation, Mont-Sainte-Anne eyes a $100 million renewal with bids already received for two lift replacement projects.
- Doppelmayr revitalizes a 110 year old cable car over Niagara Falls.
- The Indy Pass suspends sales due to capacity limitations at partner resorts.
- Eagle Point teases multiple lift upgrades including a new connector chair.
- Powdr sells Lee Canyon to Mountain Capital Partners.
- Taos confirms Leitner-Poma will build new chairlifts on both sides the mountain this summer.
News Roundup: Conquer the Mountain
- Keystone shows the process for creating a new trail map with next winter’s Bergman Bowl expansion.
- The Balsams redevelopment notches another necessary approval.
- Alta Sierra closes for weeks due to storm impacts.
- Salt Lake City prefers a 2034 Olympics over 2030.
- Troll, BC shows off 30 new runs to be serviced by a new T-Bar.
- Loon previews its expansion on South Peak.
- A man dies after falling from Breckenridge’s Zendo quad.
- Granite Peak rope evacuates the Blitzen triple.
- Heavenly offers a look into wind hold decision making.
- Snowbasin cancels construction of a Club Med, calling into question associated lift projects.
- Great Bear considers building a second chairlift.
- Steamboat again floats replacing the Wildhorse Gondola with a detachable version.
- Still no deal between Deer Valley and Mayflower although talks continue.
- Here’s a Cascade Skyline Gondola update.
- Vail settles a lawsuit with the family of a man who died while dangling from a chairlift in 2020.
- Doppelmayr is one of three finalists to replace Newark Airport’s automated people mover.
